Future Finance Minister announces plan to reduce ZUS' debt to pension funds

Marek Belka, the incoming Minister of Finance, has announced a proposal to issue special treasury bonds to open pension funds, to compensate for the overdue contributions owed by Social Insurance Company ZUS, worth from zl. 4 to 5 billion. This amount is costly for the budget since the penalty interest rate for overdue contributions is 30% per year. The interest rate on these bonds would be much lower than the penalty interest rates; instead of interest worth zl. 1.2 - 1.5 billion, the Treasury would pay only zl. 500-600 million. According to Tadeusz Gacyk, vice president of PTE Dom, one of the open pension funds, "we welcome all regulatory measures aimed at decreasing ZUS' liabilities. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1) P.W.